Black Cat Makes Anxious Noises Over Baby Monitor As Mom Checks Baby's Room She Rushes For Phone

Jan 02, 2021

For many, becoming a parent is a dream come true — and that is certainly the case in this fascinating story from the late 1980s. For Kansas City, Missouri residents Roy and Bernita Rogers, starting a family was a true calling. Unfortunately, the road to parenthood was not an easy one for this couple. They had three failed pregnancies, and it looked like they wouldn't have the chance to be a mom and a dad. Then, unexpectedly, a small kitten found its way to them in the late 1980s. The two took the little thing in, and shortly thereafter Bernita Rogers got pregnant again and gave birth to their daughter, Stacey in 1988. But then something happened that made Bernita and Roy Rogers think they might lose their baby. Thankfully, Midnight was there to ensure that it did not happen. Read on to find out just how Midnight saved little Stacey.

They Lost All Hope

After three failed pregnancies, Roy and Bernita Rogers were at a point in their lives where they doubted they would ever be able to be parents. “There is a place that you don’t know if it will ever be filled. That love you have for a child. A child that you could nurture and hold,” Bernita Rogers said in a 2000 interview with The Oprah Winfrey Show. “And you reach a point that you know it’s going to be a hole in your heart. That nothing quite fills.”

A Surprise Furbaby

But then they received an unexpected blessing — a little furry kitten who decided to come into their lives. Covered in black fur, this little kitten showed up in their backyard one day. Roy and Bernita Rogers decided to keep the kitten and named it Midnight, as Bernita Rogers explains in the video below. They focused their parenting attention on Midnight, and they were rewarded with his love and loyalty. “He was very, very affectionate,” Bernita Rogers told Winfrey. “Very cuddly, very demanding. Wanting attention, wanting to be petted.”

Black Cats Get A Bad Rap

Black cats are synonymous with misfortune. According to catit.com, this is because of their association with witches back in the Middle Ages in Europe. This belief of the bad luck that they bring spread to the first settlers of the U.S. Unfortunately, black cats are adopted less often than their more colorful counterparts in shelters.

The Opposite Proved To Be True

But instead of bad luck, it seems like Midnight helped to grant Bernita and Roy Rogers their deepest desire, a baby. Within a year that they adopted Midnight, Bernita Rogers became pregnant again. And this time, the happy couple had an easy pregnancy that ended with the birth of a beautiful, healthy baby girl. They named her Stacey. She was a happy newborn who loved to snuggle with her furry friend.

Bernita Rogers Says It Was A Miracle

“I do believe that Stacey’s birth was a miracle. I don’t know that I could put into words how long we waited and how special that made her,” Bernita Rogers told Winfrey with tears in her eyes. “That she was the one that was there for us, just waiting all those years.”

Very Protective Of Their Newborn

Understandably, Bernita and Roy Rogers were extremely protective of Stacey and always kept a baby monitor close by. “We were constantly monitoring all the time,” Roy Rogers said on The Oprah Winfrey Show. “We were determined that nothing would ever happen to the baby.” Midnight would also show protectiveness over his new human sibling. Bernita Rogers shares that he would stand guard and keep a close watch on baby Stacey. “He was always looking at her, always in the room with her,” Bernita Rogers said. 

Things Took A Turn For The Worse

When she was just six weeks old, Stacey fell ill. Roy and Bernita Rogers took her to the doctor who reassured them that her illness was only due to a mild cold. They told the parents not to worry and sent them on their way. The same day, something bad happened, as you'll see in the below video.

After putting Stacey down for a nap, Bernita Rogers went to the living room to spend time with her parents who had come from out of town to visit. All of a sudden, Midnight came running from upstairs to get Bernita Rogers' attention. He started frantically jumping on and off her lap. Something was wrong, but Bernita Rogers couldn't understand the cause of the cat's distress. Despite his persistence, Bernita Rogers didn't react to him. Describing her cluelessness of the situation at the time, Bernita Rogers said: “He obviously wanted me to do something, but I really wasn’t interested.”

The cat wasn't going to give up. He went back into the baby's room and started to meow quite loudly. The baby monitor caught his meows and broadcast them. The noises made by Midnight were described as terrifying. That's when Bernita Rogers took notice. “It was a screech, wail, scream, cry frightening enough that I jumped out of the chair and ran upstairs,” she recalls in the interview.

Bernita Rogers found Midnight moaning and hissing into the baby monitor and leaning out over the bassinet. It was as if Midnight understood that if he made a noise, the baby monitor would pick it up and alert Bernita Rogers. As she went closer, she found her daughter. It wasn't good. She saw that baby Stacey was gasping for air and had turned blue. “And that moment in time, I thought I was going to lose her,” Bernita Rogers said. She then rushed Stacey to the hospital where they discovered that she had gone into full respiratory failure.

Doctors — And Midnight — Saved Stacey's Life

Thankfully, Bernita Rogers made it in time for the doctors to save little Stacey. It was only after their return home that Bernita Rogers realize it was all because of Midnight’s persistence that Stacey was safe. “This cat actually saved this baby’s life,” Bernita Rogers said in the interview. “I know there is no way we could ever repay him.” This all happened more than three decades ago, which means Stacey is all grown up now. In her 2000 coverage of the story, Winfrey explained that Stacey, who was 12 at the time, had grown into a "very healthy" girl.

“For whatever reason, we were certainly given a second chance by the help of a cat,” Bernita Rogers concludes.

Do you think Midnight is a feline hero? Let us know in the comments — and don't forget to give others the chance to see this video by passing it along to your family members and friends.